“When you take over an England cricket team, the World Cups and Ashes series are top of the list.”
Those are the words of Jon Lewis, the new England women’s head coach, who has both in his first 10 months in the role.
The T20 World Cup awaits in South Africa in February, before a dominating Australia come to England for a multi-format Ashes series in June and July.
The team state is Lewis’ first port of call after a disappointing summer in which they finished fourth at the Commonwealth Games and were swept 3-0 by India in a one-day international series.
It begins with a white ball tour of the Caribbean, with England taking on the West Indies in three ODIs followed by five T20s. The first ODI is in Antigua on Sunday.
It’s unclear how challenging the West Indies will be, especially with all-around star Deandra Dottin stepping away from international play, but the tour should still be beneficial for Lewis and captain Heather Knight as they prepare for the T20 World Cup. .
How to combine youth and experience
England went through several painful moments over the summer, from New Zealand winning the bronze medal in an eight-wicket thrashing at the Commonwealth Games to India’s Harmanpreet Kaur beating their attack around Canterbury with ease.
But it was an inexperienced England side that lacked its stars in Knight, Katherine Brunt and Nat Sciver. And while that was clearly a huge contributing factor to the results, they learned they couldn’t afford to rely on them as much as they had been.
Knight has now recovered from a hip injury and is back to lead the West Indies Series team, Sciver is back after going on hiatus due to mental health issues and Brunt is for the stage T20 of the tour.
“We have a really good mix of youth and experience, so bringing those players together is going to be important,” Knight told the BBC podcast.
“It’s going to be like a reset for us. It’s been a weird summer with a lot of our senior players out.
“The young girls have brought a real freshness and freedom, and this tour will be about making sure the players are clear on their roles and figuring out what our best combination will be for the World Cup.”
Despite Knight’s reference to a “reset”, the squad is made up of the same players we’ve seen throughout the summer – just with the return of their three established names.
So for Lewis, the challenge will be to ensure that “the mix of youth and experience” comes to fruition – preparing his young talents to step up if the experienced names fail to do so.
And the young talent is certainly there to work with. The likes of Issy Wong, Alice Capsey and Lauren Bell have shown a lot of potential over the summer, and while they may be raw right now, they’re exciting prospects.
Opportunity to train more leaders
With the West Indies the immediate target of Lewis and Knight, it seems inevitable that an eye will be on the future given how badly England have struggled this summer without their experienced campaigners.
The bright spark beat India 2-1 in the T20 series which will give the World Cup confidence, but the ODI thrashing was perhaps a bit of a wake-up call that preparations must be done for when the team the faithful are withdrawing and the need to develop more leadership skills on the side.
Sciver stepped in as skipper for the Commonwealths, but then took a break from the game and decided against taking the vice-captain position for the West Indies.
It was then the turn of wicketkeeper Amy Jones for India, who admitted the captaincy was not something she had planned to do for England and through no fault of hers, watched out of her depth — but she was named Knight’s assistant for the upcoming series.
England must now start developing other leaders in the squad in preparation for Knight’s retirement.
Charlie Dean replaced London Spirit in Knight’s absence, a positive move that suggested management consider her as a potential future captain.
The opening partnership has fluctuated over the past year, with Tammy Beaumont being paired with Lauren Winfield-Hill, Danni Wyatt and Emma Lamb. The latter impressed at the start of the summer, registering their first international centenary against South Africa, and have the chance to mark their place and give more stability to the formation.
Brunt, however, is nearing the end of his career and in 2022 lost his longtime bowling partner to Anya Shrubsole.
Kate Cross is the obvious answer to lead the attack, but the series presents Lewis with a great opportunity to give Freya Davies more responsibility while developing Bell, Wong and Kemp.
And while there are unanswered questions for Lewis, he remains excited for the challenge and has already set the bar high for them, saying there’s “nothing this group can’t achieve”.
“We now have a beautifully balanced squad and this summer we’ve seen the emergence of some players who might not have had those opportunities had all of our senior players been fit and shot,” Lewis said.
“I am very lucky that they have had a taste of international cricket now and know what it takes to win at international level.”
